Strawberries are octoploid organisms, meaning they contain eight complete sets of chromosomes in each of their tiny cells, making them the absolute perfect candidate for highly simplistic DNA extraction experiments.

A closer look

Strawberries are octoploid organisms, meaning they contain eight complete sets of chromosomes in each of their tiny cells, making them the absolute perfect candidate for highly simplistic DNA extraction experiments. You can literally pull visible, gooey strands of pure genetic material out of a crushed strawberry using nothing more than a mixture of basic dish soap, table salt, and some chilled rubbing alcohol. The soap rips open the cell walls, the salt clumps the proteins together, and the alcohol forces the DNA to precipitate out of the liquid as a massive, snot-like web of pure biological data. It is somewhat alarming to realize that the fundamental blueprint of life, the incredibly complex code that governs all biological existence, can be completely dismantled and exposed on a kitchen counter using the exact same chemicals you use to scrub last night's lasagna dish